All that Fire and Brimstone
by Cocoasit
Summary: Myers had never seen a more dysfunctional family. There was the red skinned, cigar smoking demon; the blonde haired, white winged angel; and the aging, limping professor of the paranormal that held them together. Just what was he getting himself into? OC


**All that Fire and Brimstone**

Chapter 1: Even Odds

The weather couldn't have been more poetic. A dark storm covered the camp, creating an almost iconic setting for the opening of the portal. Cold, heavy rain smothered the grounds, and mud splashed as men worked tirelessly in preparation. Years had gone into this final stage, five years had been poured into endless research and development- and it was all coming down to this harsh night.

The Nazis gathered around, and guards stood watch as the men began to fire up the machine. A man who reeked of death itself came forward after gracing his lover one last time. This man, Grigori Rasputin, was ready to open the gate that would bring forth a new Eden. The Nazis, the Allies, the entire foolish war would mean nothing in a few mere moments. He would bring about his god onto the world.

And as it opened, and as a small group of Allies waited to ambush the site, just as the portal was opening to some sort of dark, hellish place- another opened from above. From a place of light and purity.

It is said by the genius Newton that for every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction.

Perhaps an imbalance of power caused it to happen- or perhaps it was just the place of light's way of leveling the playing field. Either way, a rift opened from above, and a small, bright streak of light fell from the sky.

The streak was just the distraction the Allies needed. Not really caring what it had been (the soldiers had seen so much weird shit the past two weeks they had honestly started not to question these sort of things) the forces lobbed grenades at the gathered Nazis. Panic erupted, and gunfire began to fill the air. Men stormed from the shadows, and the Nazis tried to fend them off while also defending their paranormal investment. However, they failed. A large explosion caused by a grenade at the portal's end completely destroyed the hellbent opening, seemingly killing Rasputin, his soldiers, and remaining Germans.

"It's…over?" One man called out once the air cleared.

"No," Professor Trevor "Broom" Bruttenholm replied as he struggled to stand, a fresh bullet wound in his leg.

"The portal was open for too long. Something…something may have found its way out. Please," he addressed the Captain to his side. "have half your men search the area- thoroughly. Have the other half try to find out what fell from the sky."

"I suppose it would be wishful thinking to just hope for a shooting star?" The Captain lightly joked as he ordered his remaining men into groups and to spread out.

"Wishful thinking indeed."

Professor Broom left first with the group to search for anything that may have left the portal. He found, not so deep in one of the nearby tombs, what one of the soldiers with him described as a "red ape" with a large stone hand and tiny horns. However, with the fantastic power of delicious candy bars and a bit of kindness, the red, demon-like infant was easily befriended. It was quickly discovered that the boy was more of a threat to their rations than their physical beings. A few hours later, the second group radioed back that they had found something.

Leaving the boy in the care of several soldiers, the professor hobbled with the help of the Captain over to the reported area.

"What the hell…?"

Standing out against the bleak, brown, mud covered ground; a bundle of dirty white was huddled together. When Broom stepped closer, careful to be slow and cautious, he found it to be a large feathered wing, curled into a ball. Leaning down on one knee, he reached to touch it.

"Professor, I don't think you should be messing with it."

Broom was about to reply when the wing shook- no, shivered, and the bundle sneezed.

"Get me a blanket, please." The professor said quickly. "It seems we have another guest."

Gently, Broom lifted the dirty wing away to revel a naked child, no older that two. It looked cold, and had obviously wrapped itself up to stay warm under the freezing, rainy conditions. The wings themselves protruded from the baby's shoulder blades, making it difficult to pick up and wrap in the wool blanket supplied by the troops.

"Well I'll be damned." The Captain whistled. "Out of all the things…first a little demon, and now an angel!"

"An angel of sorts I'm sure, but right now she's just a child catching a cold. Come on," the professor urged the men to move, back to camp.

"It's a she?"

"No, she's a she. Now let's get out of this blasted rain before we all get sick."

**-000-**

**-Years Later**

"You can't really ground him for this. He's really just lonely, Dad."

If the average FBI agent was feeling facetious, he could call Area 51 a dump. After all, the Bureau of Paranormal Research and Defense was disguised as the Squeaky Clean New Jersey Waste Management Center. To the outside eye, it looked like a fairly average building- but on the inside, underground, it was levels upon levels home to all sorts of bogeymen, things that went bump in the night, and ancient artifacts and texts.

"I know, Gabriel. But my hands are tied."

"He _misses_ her. We all miss her- but they sort of had something. You can't blame him for going out to see her. It was night, anyway!"

"No, it was dawn. Someone got a picture of him and it was all over the news."

"So? Manning likes having his mug of television. He'll just explain it away and- _poof!_ problem solved, no biggie."

Professor Broom couldn't help but chuckle. "Yes, but I think he may be running out of excuses."

Agent Gabriel sighed, running her fingers through her hair as the pair walked. Several newer, not-so-bright agents didn't know not to walk down the same hallways as the young woman and got knocked around by her pair of humungous, white-feathered wings. One, who had had his head down reading a file, ran straight into them and landed on the metal floor on his backside.

"Sorry about that." Gabriel said absently before continuing forward with the professor by her side. "When are we getting wider halls?"

"With the small fortune it's costing Agent Manning to suppress the media, I'm afraid redecoration to accommodate your generous wingspan is, unfortunately, not very high on his priorities at the moment. So not any time soon, I'm afraid."

"Figures," she mumbled as they entered the study- home of the professor's personal library and tank of the Bureau's local icthyo sapien. "But anyway- he just wanted to see Liz. And you can't blame him for feeling stir crazy anyway- I haven't flown outside in months, Dad! _Months_!"

The professor went to sit at his desk and Gabriel first tried to comfortably sit on the couch, then in a chair, but ultimately decided to sit on the floor. With a twelve foot long wingspan, comfortably relaxing was difficult, even when she folded them. The blonde looked over at the tank just in time to see Abe swim up to glass.

"Something wrong?" He asked, looking at Gabriel's long face and the professor's slight frown. He held his hand up to the glass. "Family matters? Or is it about Red's recent venture outside?"

"A bit of both." Gabriel mumbled, and shook her head.

Abe blinked, waiting for either of the pair to elaborate. Though he really didn't have to hear it from them to know what was going on. The icthyo sapien had known the odd family of three ever since the Bureau had found him.

"Odd" probably wasn't a strong enough term. With the tall, red, hulking demon Hellboy, the thin, blonde haired, blue eyed, winged Gabriel, and the aging paranormal expert that brought the trio together. Undoubtedly, Abe guessed, Gabriel thought Hellboy's venture to see Liz was justified and didn't warrant punishment- and while the professor sympathized with his son, he couldn't tolerate Hellboy possibly being discovered.

A silence settled between them, which the Professor broke with a quiet reminder.

"A new agent, John Myers, will be arriving today. In about an hour."

"I can't wait." Gabriel said evenly.

"A new face might do us some good. A change of pace." Abe added.

"I'm going to check to see that things are in order for his arrival. Gabriel, please stay here." And with that, the professor left.

"Abe, maybe I should break out. Just once." The blonde stood and walked over to Abe's books for the day, turning the pages.

"Why is that?" Abe asked. "Perhaps you and Hellboy are going through a rebellious stage?"

"In our sixties? Who knows?" Gabriel chuckled, and then sighed. "I'd just like to fly- outside."

"Understandable. Creatures capable of flight often crave freedom. I'm sure you'll get your chance soon, when you least expect it."

"I hope so." She smiled. "I doubt I could even carry out an escape. If there's one thing Red has over me, its guts- or a more blatant disregard for authority."

Gabriel stretched her wings to their full width, almost knocking over one of Abe's book stands. Slowly, she moved them back and forth, carefully lifting off the ground. She flew up and simply hovered, running her fingers along the ceiling. Abe went back to reading and Gabriel swooped down to turn his pages, rinse, repeat.

The cycle was broken when the door opened, and a rather ordinary young man walked inside, almost mesmerized by the large collection of books and tank along the walls. So mesmerized that he missed the airborne woman above him and the old professor following behind him silently.

Abe succeeded in making the man jump, as did the professor when he introduced the fish man.

"And you should meet Gabriel. My daughter."

"Your…daughter?" Agent John Myers asked, slightly anxious, looking around him. "Where…?"

"Above you." Abe said simply.

-000-

Myers really didn't know what to make of his situation. He was in Area 51, meeting people who aren't really…people. Monsters? No, they weren't monstrous- definitely unique though. A merman and an angel. And he was about to meet another one.

"So you're my brother's new nanny?"

That's what Miss Gabriel had said to him- so he assumed he would be meeting a winged man next. The blonde smiled at him with a bit of pity, looking him over.

"It was nice meeting you. And knowing you." She gave him a light pat on the shoulder. "You've got some shoes to fill. Good luck."

Myers was quickly surprised to find out he was the new liaison to someone who was most certainly _not_ a winged man.

-000-

"I think I like him."

In all superhero comics, the heroes had some of the sweetest rides. Batman had the slick Batmobile, Wonderwoman had her invisible jet, and some rode around solo on motorcycles. The B.P.R.D rode around in a garbage truck. A very fancy, supped-out truck- but a garbage truck nonetheless. It was obvious no one stopped to think that this might impose a degrading mindset on its special agents- like giving them the impression they were trash to be hulled around.

"He stares."

Gabriel cracked a smile. "Everyone stares at first. Give the guy a chance."

Hellboy grunted, looking out the two-way glass window at the gathered crowd. An alarm had gone out from the Macon Library, and the supernatural paranormal pest control trio had loaded up (SPPCT for short). Gabriel was trying her best to curl her wings (the back of the truck was a rather small place) while adjusting the holster around her waist. Unlike the hulking red giant by her side, she carried multiple smaller pistols instead of one big revolver. Also unlike Hellboy, she didn't have rock for skin. Bullets hurt. So she was outfitted with a Kevlar vest.

"Everyone stares at the big guy with horns. People ogle the angel." He paused, turning to look at her. "He didn't ogle you, did he?"

"Oh yes, because molting is _so_ attractive." The blonde snorted, looking down one of her sights. "No, he didn't ogle."

"Actually, he was rather fascinated with the mechanics of her flight." Abe added.

"Fascination. Great."

"Look, can we just focus on…whatever we're going to find, please? We're almost there."

Hellboy smirked and went back to looking out the window. "Just look at those ugly suckers- one sheet of glass between them and us."

"Story of my life." Abe said, adjusting his own equipment.

"Outside. I could be outside."

"You mean, 'outside with her.'"

"Don't get physic on me, Abe."

"There's nothing physic about it. You're easy." Abe adjusted his goggles, and Gabriel buckled her vest, looking up at her brother.

"You're a bit of an open book." She said. "Its okay to just admit you miss her. We all do."

"Liz left _us_, Red. Take the hint."

"We don't take hints." Hellboy said stubbornly, holding up his revolver.

The truck backed up into the Library entrance, and the trio stepped out, meeting up with Agent Myer, Clay, and the Professor. Despite their pervious sweep that assured them that the place was just full of replicas and fakes- they missed something. Inside one of the hollow statues held something that was big, ancient and didn't play well with others. Seven guards were now human soup, and Gabriel got a nasty chill the more and more she walked.

"Gabby, you okay?" Hellboy asked, glancing over at her.

"Fine," Gabriel said quickly, folding and unfolding her wings. "Worried about me, tough guy?"

"Well…we can't have our cheerleader getting hurt, can we?"

Gabriel smiled but smacked him upside the head all the same. She stood with Abe as orders were given and Hellboy loaded up.

"I'll take the roof," The blonde suggested. "In case it breaks out."

"Good idea." Agent Clay agreed, telling her to stay in contact and keep alert. Gabriel really just wanted an excuse to get out of the building. The chills were getting worse- like something…something that _went against every fiber of her being_ was inside the place. She flew up to the ceiling, getting a "wow" from Myers, and climbed through one the skylights.

The night sky was beautiful- and better yet, the Library was a tall building. No one from the crowd gathered below could see her, so the blonde did a quick loop in the cool air. The fresh wind felt fabulous on her feathers, and breathed a new life under her wings. God, she had almost forgot what it was like, being cooped underground all the time. Maybe she would reconsider her breaking out plan.

"We found out what the creature is, Gabby." Abe's voice sounded in her earpiece, bringing her flight euphoria to an end.

"The creature, right." She said, shaking her head and landing back on the roof, keeping watch like she should have.

"The demon Samael. The Decilet One. Lord of the Shadows, Son of Nargul, and Hound of Resurrection."

"Oh. _Oh_, that's just peachy." Gabriel cursed. A thing that couldn't die. Great.

She hovered around the perimeter, checking the entrance again, found nothing, and then _CRASH! _camethe sound of something large, heavy, and undoubtedly red hurtling through a glass window.

"Red!" Gabriel rushed over toward the crash, near the back of the Library.

"Gabriel, this is Agent Myer. Do you have a position of Hellboy?" Her earpiece sounded.

"Yeah, he's somewhere near the back entrance near the dumpsters, I'm heading there now."

Reaching the back, she searched the ground below, spotting Hellboy easily, and a strange man to his far right. A big, overpowering chill crawled over her skin like a dozen roaches. Whoever this guy was, he was evil, and she did not want him anywhere near her brother.

"Hellboy!" She called out, gaining both persons' attention. She swooped down, drawing her pistol and landing between the two. "Who are you?"

"And the Holy send their agent…" The man whispered. "You cannot stop the inevitable."

"What?" Gabriel leveled her sight on the man's head. Hellboy said something behind her, and the, _bam!_ something big, slimy, and nasty landed behind them, temporarily distracting the both of them. Hellboy wasted no time shooting it, and Gabriel looked back to see the man was gone.

"Who the hell was that…?"

The next things that happened went by in an adrenalin filled blur. The monster, Samael, grabbed Hellboy, Myers arrived to shoot the thing, and that somehow lead to the thing getting out to the street, a car accident, and then Samael getting fried on the subway track. Of course, Gabriel heard about the subway bits second hand, because her wings were not convenient for tight spaces and she regrouped with Abe and the others.

And then they lost Hellboy altogether. Well, not really. It didn't take a rocket scientist to guess where he went. It was just a matter of going to get him.

"This is why I don't think we should be letting the horned maniac out! But no one ever listens to me,_ nooo_. And then he gets out onto the street, causes accidents- one more time and just you wait…"

While a retrieval band went to get Hellboy (or rather, pry him away from Liz), Gabriel and Abe were ordered to stay in the Library- best to prevent any more outside damage, they reasoned. While the fish man was investigating the ruins of what were priceless (fake) artifacts for clues, Gabriel stood by Manning as he ranted.

"He killed the thing, that's all that matters. And don't call him a maniac, you-you-!"

"Hellboy totaled multiple cars and I just bet there's going to tons of photos of him- ugh, that money It's going to take to get rid of those…"

"Who cares about cars! There were no casualties, a monster is dead, and it's Halloween! People probably just thought he was a guy in a costume!"

While the two argued, Abe and the professor discovered a weapon left behind by the ones responsible for Samael's presence- and Abe "read" what had happened in the Library from it. However, he also accidently discovered the little secret the professor was hiding by steadying his chest.

"Professor," he gasped, voice laced with quiet concern. "you're very sick."

Broom closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. "I don't want either of them to know."

"But you-"

"Abe, sixty years ago they tried to destroy the world- and they're back- _in my lifetime _they're back. To finish the job." The old man, suddenly feeling his age, sighed. "Things are going to be very hard and very serious soon- they don't need to be worried about me when the world itself needs them- _all of us_, at our best."

The man looked over at the winged woman to his far right that was his daughter, locked in debate with Manning, feathers frayed. He thought of the red skinned demon that was his son. The two were his children and only family- he would tell them only if they needed to know. The pair didn't need anything else on their shoulders.

"Let's get back," he said. "Come on."

**-000-**

"You were burned," Abe said curiously. "by some sort of organic acid."

Roughly a few hours later back at the base, Abe was carefully examining Hellboy's arm, which had been infected by some kind of parasite amongst his shuffle with Samael. His red, usually rock hard skin had been burned, and the fresh wound infected with some kind of eggs. Gabriel stood close to her brother, looking over Abe's shoulder.

"Hm." Mused the red demon, completely uninterested. "I'm lucky that way."

The winged woman looked up, frustration and concern clearly written on her features. Professor Broom, who stood by his son's opposite side, looked the same. He sighed.

"I worry about you."

"Hmm?" Hellboy hummed, staring at the ceiling.

"I won't be around forever, you know." The professor paced, looking older than ever. Gabriel blinked and cautiously placed a hand on her father's shoulder.

"Dad…?" She began. The professor never spoke like this. "Is something the matter?"

"Damn!" Hellboy flinched as Abe prodded a particularly sensitive bit of skin. "Could you please be a little more careful?"

"Big baby…" The sapien murmured, returning to his work. "How long was it latched onto you?"

Broom gently shook off Gabriel's hand, looking pointedly at the matter at hand- namely the eggs Samael had implanted in Hellboy. Gabriel shot him a worried look that clearly said she was not going to drop the matter, but nevertheless looked back to the egg issue.

"Oh, I don't know. About five seconds." Hellboy shrugged.

Abe withdrew a trio of glossy yellow eggs and placed them under a microscope to his side. "Five seconds, and it laid three eggs."

"Huh. Didn't even buy me a drink."

"A shame, the two of you would have made such a cute couple out on the town." Gabriel joked, though it was half hearted. Her eyes flicked over to the professor every few seconds.

"Beauty and the Beast."

"Which one of you would've been the Beauty?"

Abe cleared his throat. "The stinger detaches itself from the tongue and injects the eggs." Abe explained. "They are very sensitive to heat, light- they need a humid, dark environment to breed."

Agent Myers, who up to that point had been silent, probably still reeling from his first field mission, spoke. "Did you ever loose track of him?"

"Well let's see," Hellboy grunted. "There was that moment when I had the _train_ on top of my head."

"Wait, what? You had a _what_ on top of you?" Gabriel gasped, that little detail hadn't made it to her ears. She was ignored.

"We can't risk it." Broom decided. "Tomorrow you'll go back to the tracks with a group of agents. Search the whole place, top to bottom. Find those eggs, destroy them."

-000-

That night, Gabriel found herself reading the same first paragraph of her latest book twelve times. She couldn't focus. The library was usually a great place to sit and relax, but it didn't seem to help.

"Something wrong?"

The winged blonde looked over at the fish man in the tank to her right. Soft classical music filled the air, and only two books were out for him to read at the moment.

"I don't know." Gabriel sighed, tossing her book over her shoulder and running her fingers through her hair.

"Hellboy's burns have already healed, and shouldn't leave any scars." He prompted, through he didn't need to use is physic abilities to tell that wasn't what was on the woman's mind.

"Its just…" She sighed, and got up to turn Abe's pages. "_I think_…has Dad seemed a bit off lately? All this past week he's been…really showing his age."

_Oh dear… _Abe paused mid stroke. He knew the professor was very sick, and while he didn't agree with his decision to keep it from his children, he did respect the man's reasons.

"The professor is just stressed." Abe lied evenly, watching the Gabriel bite her lip and massage her temples. "Hellboy has been getting out a lot lately- and with this whole Hound of Resurrection business…"

"I know that, but he's never seemed so tired. I'm worried, Abe. I get the feeling he's keeping something to himself."

The sapien's brow twitched. "I doubt that."

For a moment, Gabriel didn't say anything, just pinched the bridge of her nose and took deep breathes. Abe watched, carefully.

"Are _you_ feeling alright?"

"What? Me? Of course I'm alright."

Abe didn't even blink. The blonde held his stare for a good minute, and then gave up.

"Back at the Library- there was this man who-"

Gabriel wouldn't get the chance to finish that sentence. At that moment, the alarm sounded. Nearly half a second later, Hellboy threw the door open, looking a weird mixture of excited and concerned.

"Liz did it again."

-000-

"Well, the lovely places work takes us."

Agent Clay had been trying to lighten the mood ever since the group made their way into the subway underground. In a word, the place was disgusting. Rancid water dripped from the ceiling, the air was thick and hot, grime covered every surface, and the only light came from cracks above. The underground was like a maze, and trying to find the eggs was like trying to find a needle in a haystack- but luckily they had their own metal detector to make things easier.

Abe had already removed his gloves and began listening, leading the group. Hellboy followed second, the agents in the middle, and Gabriel brought up the end. She had to fold her wings tightly to maneuver comfortably, and had pulled her hair up.

"Yes. Lovely indeed." She muttered. "If our buddy Sammy needs dark and humid to make babies, he sure found the perfect incubator."

"Over here," Abe lead, his hand outstretched.

There were only three agents with them, Clay, Murey, and Ross. Clay was the most experienced of the group, and while the other two had been on missions, they had never been with BPRD's non-human agents. To their credit, Gabriel was pleasantly surprised to see they hadn't openly stared. Gabriel couldn't help but feel a bit jealous of Myers, who was off in the comfortable, non-rodent infested land above to coax Liz back to the BPRD.

"The subway lines, uh, all converge right around here." Ross said, eyeing a map while trying too keep it from getting dripped on. "Right below us is the old reservoir from the mid thirties."

"There's a pulse." Abe pointed to a dead end. "Right behind this wall- a cistern. Most of the eggs are there."

"A cistern…?" Gabriel marveled. She had no idea something like that was down here.

Clay groaned. "There's no way in then. We should go back, and request a special permit- type two-"

Hellboy didn't like permits. Or stubborn walls. So he made and entrance.

"You were saying?" He shrugged, walking though the rubble of the once-dead end.

Inside, Abe lead them to a manhole cover, which scared away hundreds of cockroaches when Hellboy removed it, scattering the little bugs in every direction.

"We led a charmed life." Abe eyed the insects and then the dirty water below.

"Wouldn't have it any other way." Gabriel smirked, crushing one under her heel.

0000

**(A/N): **Heh, I hear it now. "WHAT THE HELL IS THIS? ENDING IT THERE?" Well, I'm tied at the moment, and really, this story was a sort of experiment. Ya like it? Tell me, I'll continue it. If not, I'll just tweak it into a one-shot somehow. *shrugs*


End file.
